Where are all the men?

[Keroin]

OK, men, help me out here.

Yesterday, I talked to a man, a grown man, who told me he had seen a cockroach in the bungalow he’s staying at and was so freaked out and scared he couldn’t sleep all night. Dude, it’s a cockroach not a Bengal tiger. Get over it.

Has the man train left the station, never to return? Seriously, I’m seeing it more and more. What’s going on?

 

[Netzach]

OK, men, help me out here.

Yesterday, I talked to a man, a grown man, who told me he had seen a cockroach in the bungalow he’s staying at and was so freaked out and scared he couldn’t sleep all night. Dude, it’s a cockroach not a Bengal tiger. Get over it.

Has the man train left the station, never to return? Seriously, I’m seeing it more and more. What’s going on?

I'm worried. The only thing I can't do because I don't have a penis is the mercy killing of mice with a broom and mouse removal. Fortunately, that hasn't been an issue in this apartment, but I just like to know that I've got my back covered.

 

[ZRT]

OK, men, help me out here.

Yesterday, I talked to a man, a grown man, who told me he had seen a cockroach in the bungalow he’s staying at and was so freaked out and scared he couldn’t sleep all night. Dude, it’s a cockroach not a Bengal tiger. Get over it.

Has the man train left the station, never to return? Seriously, I’m seeing it more and more. What’s going on?

This is why I make a distinction between men and males. Possession of male genitalia does not a man make.

Women can help this condition by not mollycoddling the fucking sissies among us.

 

[WriterDom]

It all started when they took dodge ball out of school.

 

[Netzach]

This is why I make a distinction between men and males. Possession of male genitalia does not a man make.

Women can help this condition by not mollycoddling the fucking sissies among us.

I'd like to mention that my extremely femme metro who whines at me if there's a chicken bone in his food is the source of mouse removal and bengal tiger defense though.

Some very non-traditionally-butch men are the kind of people you just do not want to see mad. I've tried to maintain that if anyone ever fucks with us both that's why I wear running shoes out to shows and we both run for it in opposing directions. I have a feeling this may not happen if his reptile brain kicks in.

Exactly like his dad. It's the quiet ones.

 

[CurlyKat]

I haven't really seen this too much, but the thought scares me! I need my manly men around to take care of spiders and such for me!

 

[Netzach]

It all started when they took dodge ball out of school.

Danger is overrated. Yeah, that shit kinda hurt, but my friend who took a hard center field softball to the nose directly - that's an injury.

 

[Netzach]

I think what I look for is someone who has balls roughly as big as mine. At least in M, or a life partner kind of person. Too much bigger is way not good, but too much smaller and suddenly I'm Mommy, and no. Not so much.

 

[CurlyKat]

Danger is overrated. Yeah, that shit kinda hurt, but my friend who took a hard center field softball to the nose directly - that's an injury.

Yeah, a little bit of danger teaches some valuable lessons growing up.

Speaking of ball injuries, in high school I played volleyball and apparently thought one time it was a good idea to block the ball with my face. Knocked me flat on my rear. Definitely had the dazed, confused, saw stars, splitting headache thing going on. At least all the guys thought I was cool for not crying.

 

[water_nymph]

caught a softball on the kisser when I was a kid, knocked me off my feet and gave me the "sweetest kisser lips" my coach had ever seen Total time off the field? 3 minutes, and then only to ice and change shirts.

Man or woman it's a mind set, No one ever told me I was hurt so I accepted the pain as acceptable and went back to the game.

Years later that still sticks in my mind, if you want to play the game, you have to accept the pain.

How it connects to the cock roach? Same mind set, if you grew up watching the "ewwww, that's gross" club then you probably have the tendency to mimic

Either that or you're just plain whimpped out

 

[Netzach]

caught a softball on the kisser when I was a kid, knocked me off my feet and gave me the "sweetest kisser lips" my coach had ever seen Total time off the field? 3 minutes, and then only to ice and change shirts.

Man or woman it's a mind set, No one ever told me I was hurt so I accepted the pain as acceptable and went back to the game.

Years later that still sticks in my mind, if you want to play the game, you have to accept the pain.

How it connects to the cock roach? Same mind set, if you grew up watching the "ewwww, that's gross" club then you probably have the tendency to mimic

Either that or you're just plain whimpped out

If you grew up in NYC the cockroach should not inspire anything if it's under 4 inches long. After 4 inches, you're allowed to be grossed. You're not allowed to feel fear till those motherfuckers start flying. That's weird Florida stuff.

It would definitely

definitely

not keep me awake all night though.

That would take a lot.

 

[Netzach]

caught a softball on the kisser when I was a kid, knocked me off my feet and gave me the "sweetest kisser lips" my coach had ever seen Total time off the field? 3 minutes, and then only to ice and change shirts.

Man or woman it's a mind set, No one ever told me I was hurt so I accepted the pain as acceptable and went back to the game.

There was much blood. It wasn't a sue the school moment, but it was a sitter outter and a legit one indeed.

 

[Homburg]

You reap what you sow. For decades, men and boys have been told to get in touch with their feelings, express themselves emotionally, and that it is okay to cry, show a softer side. Too many males take that as license to be wimps.

Emotional stoicism, and a burning need to not look "like a pussy" in front of the guys may not be super healthy, but it is handy as shit when it comes to confronting oogy crawly things.

 

[Netzach]

You reap what you sow. For decades, men and boys have been told to get in touch with their feelings, express themselves emotionally, and that it is okay to cry, show a softer side. Too many males take that as license to be wimps.

Well, you get lots of attention and nurture if you're a pussy and there's a woman with an unused maternal drive around. There are huge rewards. And it's simply another form of narcissism and chauvenism. The "get in touch with your feelings" message wasn't tempered with the "pay attention to the ones around you and nurture them" one.

And frankly, nothing disgusts me more than an overly wussy woman either. I had a boss who would cry when frustrated, and that was when I knew I had to put in notice after a while. No self control. God almighty, it was like my mother, I had to be the adult.

Being a pussy versus being emotionally candid and not locked down to the point of exploding all the time are not the same thing.

 

[VelvetDarkness]

My big bad Master is scared of spiders. We're in the UK so there's not exactly a risk from the little critters. I have to handle spider evacuation if one turns up (though the cat often eats them first) while he cowers in the corner. He leapt out of bed in the middle of the night once, screaming & flailing, because he dreamed that a giant spider was lowering itself onto his face.

Bless.

 

[Homburg]

Well, you get lots of attention and nurture if you're a pussy and there's a woman with an unused maternal drive around. There are huge rewards. And it's simply another form of narcissism and chauvenism.

This is why I used the phrase "take that as license." I think it is the easy way out. And, yes, it does reap rewards for the men in certain areas, which makes it even more seductive to these sort of people.

Being a pussy versus being emotionally candid and not locked down to the point of exploding all the time are not the same thing.

Of course. Not to toot my own horn, but I have no trouble expressing my emotions, and not being locked down when it is appropriate. But I can also turn that shit off and put it in the corner when I need to. The balance is the important part, and too many males seem to pick one side and stop trying afterwards.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

It's all attitude. Roaches and millipedes and jumping spiders all generally kinda squick me out, but I don't hesitate to stomp 'em or smash them with the nearest handy flat object: shoe, newspaper, book (yeah, I know, that's sacrilege, but allowable in the case of roaches), or spray the shit out of 'em with Raid Ant & Roach stuff, then watch 'em squirm as they take 30-60 seconds (my time - is that like a week in their time? I hope so.) to kick off this mortal coil.

As for dodgeball and softball, I coached 16-18 year old girls' fast-pitch softball for a number of years. 'Twas strange - some of the girls you'd think would be wusses were the toughest, some that you'd think would be stand-up all the way, no matter what, would fold under the least pressure or pain. One of our pitchers, a gorgeous little thing, as feminine looking as any teenager's wet dream could invent, about 5'1" and maybe 89 pounds soaking wet, had a close to 60 mph fastball, a rise ball that would make your jaw drop, and a drop ball that I could never hit, even when I knew she was going to throw it! (To be fair, her curveball sucked. It was slow and gentle, and our worst hitter could nail it three of four pitches. LOL!)

She was throwing batting practice to the team one day in preparation for going up in a couple of days against the toughest team in the district (with *good* pitchers), when our best (and strongest) hitter slapped a line drive directly back at her head. She got her glove up, the ball smacked into the pocket... and the pocket and ball smacked into her temple with the sound of a watermelon hitting concrete. She dropped like a sack of potatoes, and the other coaches and I broke land speed records getting out to the mound to check on her - she was out cold. One of the other girls was a fast thinker; as soon as she saw Bev go down, she dunked a towel in our 5-gallon jug of cold (not iced) water and ran out to the mound, too. Another girl ran for the concession stand and a phone to call an ambulance (This was before everyone and their Chihuahua had cell phones). Three girls, all outwardly tough, simply sat down and cried. They thought she was dead.

We gently rubbed Bev's forehead with the cold damp towel, staying away from her temple, and after just a couple of moments, her eyes fluttered, then opened. Almost immediately, she was trying to sit up - we wouldn't let her - and arguing that she was fine, just needed to walk it off for a minute and then get back to pitching BP. We made her stay down until the EMTs got there and checked her out - no concussion - but she was majorly pissed that we made her sit on the bench for the rest of practice and not even take a few cuts at another pitcher.

We played the other team two days later, and IIRC, she played second base (her other position - she was on mandatory pitching rest {rules}) the whole game, and went 3 for 4 with a couple of runs scored and a couple of RBIs... despite the fact that the entire left side of her face looked like an eggplant.

It's all attitude, and (IMNSHO) an inborn toughness. You either have it or you don't. She did.

 

[RawHumor]

My big bad Master is scared of spiders. We're in the UK so there's not exactly a risk from the little critters. I have to handle spider evacuation if one turns up (though the cat often eats them first) while he cowers in the corner. He leapt out of bed in the middle of the night once, screaming & flailing, because he dreamed that a giant spider was lowering itself onto his face.

Bless.

I'm also arachnophobic. I can take care of mice or bees or wasps or whatever, but spiders make my skin crawl.

I'm not sure about cockroaches - I don't think they'd bother me at all, but I haven't encountered too many of them.

 

[CurlyKat]

Roaches are icky when they make that crunch when you kill them, and just plain creepy when they start flying around, but I can deal with them. Prefer not to, but can. The spiders have always made me want to curl up and cry, though. *shudders*

 

[WriterDom]

Girls are pretty scrappy nowadays. I became a fan of the girl's basketball team here. Then I'd leave at halftime of the boys game because they flat out sucked. New coach now so there is hope.

 

[Keroin]

This is why I make a distinction between men and males. Possession of male genitalia does not a man make.

Males and men. Yes. An example? Why I'd love to!

When I was teaching karate there were two general attitudes I had to deal with from the guys, when it came time to fight. *Remember, this was pre-Lara Croft, when girls fighting was still a rare occurrence and considered somewhat weird.*

The first group of guys fell into the "I can't hurt a woman" category. They'd dance around and basically play tag with me. Cool. Hey, they were raised not to hit women, I respect that. A few solid hits from me and their paradigms would start shifting. Problem solved.

The second group of guys were the "I'm not going to let some woman teach me how to fight" variety. I hated dealing with them. Inevitably, they'd wail on me as hard as they could just to prove a point. I dropped more than a few of those bastards - you don't have to fight strong, you just have to fight smart. And if I didn't get them, then "Lothar", my 6'7" Norwegian friend, would deliver the attitude adjustment in the next round.

First group = men.
Second group = males.

It all started when they took dodge ball out of school.

You may be right.

I think what I look for is someone who has balls roughly as big as mine. At least in M, or a life partner kind of person. Too much bigger is way not good, but too much smaller and suddenly I'm Mommy, and no. Not so much.

Realistically, I don't expect many men to have balls as big as mine. I do expect them to have balls as big as the six year old girl down the street though.

If you grew up in NYC the cockroach should not inspire anything if it's under 4 inches long. After 4 inches, you're allowed to be grossed. You're not allowed to feel fear till those motherfuckers start flying. That's weird Florida stuff.

Oh, ours are big and they fly. I thought all cockroaches could fly? Guess all of mine have been in the tropics.

My first night here, I got up at dark o-clock to pee, sat down on the toilet and, "Hey what's that crawling on my...?" Fucker was huge.

The only night a crawly thing kept me awake was the giant scorpion in Costa Rica. It was wedged behind the air con unit and I couldn't get it out to kill it. I've been stung by a scorpion so I think I was entitled to some healthy fear.

 

[Netzach]

My big bad Master is scared of spiders. We're in the UK so there's not exactly a risk from the little critters. I have to handle spider evacuation if one turns up (though the cat often eats them first) while he cowers in the corner. He leapt out of bed in the middle of the night once, screaming & flailing, because he dreamed that a giant spider was lowering itself onto his face.

Bless.

M is pretty phobic, though he keeps a stiff upper lip about it. I know he kills them if I'm not there to yell at him. And the cat sleeps on my feet now, the victim of a few too many giant spider dream flailings.

I love spiders. I know that there's probably a poisonous one with my name on it, but I put them outside. Anything that eats roaches and centipedes is fine by me.

 

[Dreamliner]

There are some big arse roaches in the SP K! I have seen a few in my times wandering through various spots on my diving journeys.

I think you will find a few manly men on the threads here. If you have some trouble give me a call ;-)

 

[eastern sun]

It all started when they took dodge ball out of school.

They still play dodge ball in the public schools in NYC.

Is that why there are men here?

 

[Keroin]

M is pretty phobic, though he keeps a stiff upper lip about it. I know he kills them if I'm not there to yell at him. And the cat sleeps on my feet now, the victim of a few too many giant spider dream flailings.

I love spiders. I know that there's probably a poisonous one with my name on it, but I put them outside. Anything that eats roaches and centipedes is fine by me.

Mmm, yes. I made my peace with spiders a long time ago. They are crawly and I don't relish the idea of one crawling on me but I do have a live and let live policy with arachnids. Anything that kills mosquitoes is aces in my books!

My father, a very manly fellow, is terrified of snakes. I guess we all have our thing.

Overall, though, I am noticing a decline in manliness among males - in the younger generation. A lot of young people take round-the-world trips after they finish college and university, so I see many of them pass through here. For future doctors, bankers and CEO's, a startling number of them are amazingly inept at daily life. Yes, you probably want to bring sunglasses to a place where it is sunny 90% of the time. DOH.

There are some big arse roaches in the SP K! I have seen a few in my times wandering through various spots on my diving journeys.

I think you will find a few manly men on the threads here. If you have some trouble give me a call ;-)I think there is a plethora of manly men in this particular corner of the world. LOL.

Our spiders are similarly humongous but, thankfully, nonpoisonous. Yay! The Caribbean also had large roaches. Frankly, I've become immune to them. It's the ants that drive me batty - in my kettle, in my laptop, in my wetsuit booties, eating my underwear, yes, my underwear, they're everywhere!!!! ARGH!

I'm amused at how many people are fearful of geckos, (my ceiling is a gecko highway).